Critics’ Week parallel selection honors Taiwan, Argentina and Egypt

First and second feature films from Taiwan, Argentina, Belgium and Egypt will be presented during the 63rd Critics’ Week, one of the parallel selections at the Cannes Film Festival.

The poster for the 63rd Critics’ Week, which will be held in Cannes from May 15 to 23, catches the eye: it is the eyes of actress Hafsia Herzi who exchanges a look and a smile with Nina Meurisse, in The Rapture, the first film by Iris Kaltenbäck. Founded in 1962, Critics’ Week is one of the main parallel selections at the Cannes Film Festival, dedicated to the discovery of new talents and programming first or second films.

Eleven feature films have been selected for this 2024 edition of Critics’ Week, the organizers announced on Monday April 15. Seven of the selected films take part in the competition under the eye of a jury chaired by Rodrigo Sorogoyen, recognized as one of the figures of the revival of Spanish cinema. At 42, the filmmaker has stood out in recent years for his black cinema, from What do we say about Perdone? has El Reinowhich earned him the Goya (the Spanish equivalent of the Césars) for best director in 2019.

Only one Frenchman in competition

Among the discoveries in competition are a first Taiwanese film (Locust by director KEFF) on Taiwan in 2019 in the midst of popular revolt, “alongside a disenchanted youth tempted by the choice of weapons and gangs“, a first Argentinian film (Simon of the Mountain by director Federico Luis), drama on disability, or an Egyptian film by Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir, The Brink of Dreams, evoking the courageous project of an all-female street theater troupe in a conservative and isolated region of southern Egypt. Only one French filmmaker is in competition (Antoine Chevrollier for his first feature film, The Pampas, drama with Sayyid El Alami and Damien Bonnard). The others are projected out of competition.

Critics’ Week has a great history. Since 1962, a number of now established filmmakers have been discovered there, from Ken Loach (revealed in 1970 at La Semaine with Kes and holder of two Palmes d’Or for The wind picks up And Me, Daniel Blake in 2006 and 2016) to Julia Ducournau (Palme d’Or with Titanium in 2021, after presenting his previous film, Severeweekly).